“Sunshine, get out of the way for a sec!” I yelled urgently, sprinting towards a random tree.
She quickly understood and bolted out of the vicinity. Once I saw that she was with Jesus, I pierced through the wood with my fingers and began to yank on the tree, ripping its roots out of the ground. If I couldn’t see where this person was to attack them, then I’ll just attack everything around me!
With a fierce grip, I swung it in a reckless arc, branches thrashing through the air like a storm. Dirt and stones were batted across the field, other trees near me were torn apart from the force of my attack, the wind I created slammed against Sunshine and Jesus’ body—every piece of the Earth was fair game as long as I could hit the Radius bastard who was trying to capture us.
However, out of all the things the tree attacked, it didn’t feel like it connected with a person. Or at least something human-like. Damn! Where could that asshole be? Did he run aw-
My thoughts were shattered by a fist striking my jaw from my right. In response, I swung the tree in that direction, but the tree only struck the air. Another punch landed on my face, this time to my left, and another one of my swings hit nothing.
I glanced at Sunshine for a moment and was a little annoyed that Jesus was just talking to her instead of joining the fight. Catching this guy would’ve been way easier if that horse freak just used his damn explo…explosions! That’s it!
I squeezed my entire body as tight as I could make it, every fiber of my radioactive ooze bracing for release. The pressure within me built and I could feel the destructive energy from Jesus’ ability expanding out of my bones. More blows hammered into me at every angle, a relentless assault of punches and kicks. But I endured. After all, this was exactly what I wanted.
Stay as close as possible you idiot!
Finally, the pressure in me snapped, and a violent surge broke free, bursting outward in a furious wave that swallowed the air and the ground beneath me. I felt myself slowly sinking, my attack disintegrating the ground beneath me until it formed a large crater. The explosion had muffled any other sound I could hear in that instant except for one thing. The scream of a man.
But it wasn't from my ability. When my vision cleared, I realized that…my daughter was dangling in the air grabbing onto something I couldn't see. Shit! That must’ve been the invisible guy!
“Sunshine, what are you doing!? Get down from there, now!” I demanded, watching her flail around.
“But Jerome, I can see him!” she screamed back. “I learned how! The horse man taught me!”
“How many times do I have to tell you!? You can’t fig-”
“Just trust me! Please!”
Her voice…she was serious this time…
*****
“Man, this guy’s a real piece of work,” said Jesus, scratching his back on the tree's wood.
“Who? My dad?” asked Sunshine, shielding her face from the wind. It made her eyes water a bit.
“No, this invisible man. Never seen this kind of ability before,” he answered, taking a seat. “This might sound a little complicated for a kid like you, but my guess is that he’s altering the way our brains or eyes perceive him by transmuting his molecular structure to something normal humans can’t process in our minds. Like how there are colors out there in our world we can’t see but they still exist. Or women we’ve met in our past when we were drunk and then we wake up the next morning and they’re not there anymore. Like…they were never there in the first place.”
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“Um…I don’t think that last part has anything to do wit-”
“Neeeeigh!” he suddenly cried out, shaking his horse head around. “Angelica! Was she even real!? Did that night we spent together mean nothing to you…”
This guy’s crazy! He kinda reminds me of my dad before he turned into a Radion, thought Sunshine, sitting next to him.
“What about erasure?”
Jesus turned to her, his horse head nearly getting a laugh out of her. “What about it?”
“I mean, what if he’s deleting some of his own atoms to make himself actually invisible. Since matter is made up of atoms, if you get rid of those atoms, you’d essentially be erasing part of your body.”
Jesus paused for a few seconds, as if he was considering the possibility. Then he replied “Um…are you sure you’re nine?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well anyways, that wouldn’t really work here. For starters, he’d just kill himself doing that. And even if he could survive that…” He pointed at Jerome, who looked like he was charging something up. “Your papa’s getting his ass beat right now. This invisible guy can only do that if he still had enough physical matter to hit him. And from what I’m sensing with my technique, his body is definitely intact.”
“Oh yeah, energy sense! You said you were gonna show me how to do that, right?”
Jesus sprang up to his feet. “You definitely have the capacity for it, little lady. So lemme show you.” He lifted his hands forward. “You see all those pieces of green energy around us. Sections of the ground, those three zombies over there, even some of the sky–you see it, don't you?”
It took a moment for Sunshine to understand what the horse man was talking about, but as the green of the world slowly came into view, it finally made sense. “Woah, I see it. It looks like…flames.”
Jesus chuckled. “Yeah. Now lift up your arms like me, close your eyes and imagine all that energy gathering around you. Try as hard as you can, ok?”
Sunshine lifted her arms, mimicking Jesus. She closed her eyes, focusing on the energy in the area. The acidic smell of the zombie’s blood invading her nostrils. The acrid scent of her father’s zombified body that her nose invited to stay. The heat of the nuclear essence in the sky caressing her skin. The sound of Jerome’s body charging a new attack.
All of the things she appreciated about the apocalypse recognized her feelings and thus, came to her side, wrapping around her body. The girl opened her eyes and saw that she was surrounded by a shimmering orb.
“Woah. I did not think that would be so quick,” he said, voice filled with surprise. “But as I expected, your energy sense is on the smaller side. Probably ‘cause you're still a kid.”
“So I gotta run out there and find him myself?” asked Sunshine, admiring her newfound technique.
“Yep. He’s radiating some serious nuclear energy right now so it should be easy. Oh, and so is your papa. You better hurry up and get out there before he blows!”
Without hesitation, she charged back into the battlefield and…waited. The radius of her sensory technique was too small for her to find anything meaningful. But what she did know is that whoever this mysterious guy was, he’d want to capture him and leave the fight immediately. Especially with what her dad was about to do, who didn’t seem to notice her presence.
Just as she expected, something tugged on her hoodie, pulling her into the air. It was the invisible man! Judging by her energy sense, the guy was pretty scrawny, which was surprising considering he was able to throw Jesus into the air like a piece of trash.
Sunshine grasped his face, her fingers clawing at his skin until it bled. He let out a loud, “Ow!” Just then, a huge explosion knocked them both to the ground. But that attack didn’t stop the man from hurriedly getting back up and running off somewhere, attempting to push her off as well.
His hands felt rough. His hands hurt. But she clung on no matter how much the invisible man slapped her around. ‘Cause she couldn’t afford to look weak in front of her dad. To look like some scared little girl while he did all the fighting. All the protecting.
Screaming at the sight of zombies approaching her or rabid animals drooling at the thought of devouring her. No more! Her dad wasn’t the only one who wanted this stupid disease gone already!
So when Jerome demanded her to get off and stay on the sidelines, she only had one thing to tell him.
“Jerome, trust me! Please!”
Sunshine saw him hesitate to respond. He was considering it…
“Jerome, use your finger gun attack, now!” she screamed out, tightening her grip on the enemy’s face. “Before he pushes me off!”
“But what if I hit you!?” His fingers twitched. “What if I can’t save you like I couldn’t save-”
“Just shut the fuck up already and shoot the fucking attack!” Her words echoed across the area. That was the first time she cursed in front of her father. “I promise…I’m not pathetic enough to get killed by my own dad, ok? I already believe you’ll never hurt me so you have to believe that you’ll never hurt me! Hurry up and do it!”
Only a second had passed before it seemed like Jerome had finally made a decision. He aimed his fingers at the two of them, following them as they ran around him.
And then, he fired.
Bang!